Language: A Resource for Nature 145ment.^12 In turn, local languages lose their crucial function of communicating and
upholding such knowledge, beliefs and wisdom that are increasingly less signifi-
cant and intelligible to younger generations. Furthermore, local knowledge does
not ‘translate’ easily into the majority language to which minority language speak-
ers switch; and along with the dominant language usually comes a dominant cul-
tural framework that begins to take over and displace the traditional one. Because
in most cases indigenous knowledge is only carried by oral tradition, when shift
toward ‘modernization’ and dominant languages occurs and oral tradition in the
native languages is not kept up, local knowledge is lost. Due to its place-specific
and subsistence-related nature, local ecological knowledge is at an especially high
risk of disappearing.
Knowledge loss
The patterns and factors of erosion of languages and linguistically encoded envir-
onmental knowledge are beginning to be systematically identified and quantified.
For example, among the Piaroa Indians of Venezuela, the persistence of ethno-
botanical knowledge has been found to negatively correlate with age, bilingualism
and schooling (Figures 5.4–5.7).^13 Younger, more acculturated Piaroa show dra-
matically lower levels of competence than their older, less acculturated counter-
parts in identifying local plants by their Piaroa names and the cultural uses of those
same plant species.
The regression lines drawn represent: (a) a linear or binomal model (r^2 = 0.539; y = 0.2739 +
0.0126x); and (b) a curvilinear or polynomial model (r^2 = 0.625; y = 8.3118 + 0.4465x –
3.359√x – 15.7723x^2 – 0.0023x^3 ).
Source: Zent (in press)^13
Figure 5.4 Regression of age and ethnobotanical competence among the Piaroa of
Venezuela